When Benj Gershman picks up his bass to play with O.A.R.
on July 21 at Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport, you can see it as another excellent jam but also as a personal triumph. The band’s name stands for “Of a Revolution,” and Gershman experienced his own internal revolution in recent years. A series of mystery ailments during the beginning of the COVID crisis had him feeling at one point like he may never play music again.
Gershman shares his struggles and the methods he used to regain his health and a positive attitude in a new podcast, “What Could Be Bad.” The series debuted in May and the first 11-episode season just concluded. “What Could Be Bad” can be seen on YouTube , heard on the usual podcast streaming services and also found on the web at whatcouldbebad.
com . The show is a highly professional production. “Everything I do, I want it to be as professional and high quality as possible,” Gershman said.
“The point is not to be popular. The point is to have an impact, to put real conversations out there.” He’s been shooting the podcast on high-definition video in case he wants to use the footage for a documentary someday.
The podcast’s stated mission is “to create conversations around personal, community, collective, online, national and global mental health topics. By communicating about personal circumstances, we will identify foundational issues. By discussing our management practices, we will define ways to address our issues effectively.
” The first season of “What Could Be Bad” found Gershman talking with people in the entertainment industry. Guests on the podcast have included fellow musicians ranging from Ryan Dusick of Maroon 5 to singer-songwriter Stephen Kellogg and hip-hop icon Flavor Flav. Gershman talked to the Hartford Courant by phone a few weeks ago while taking his daily long trail hike in California, one of the many health regimens he now follows.
“In February of 2020, I started having physical health issues,” the musician recalled. “The doctors were trying to identify what they were, and I was finally diagnosed as having an autoimmune disease in November. It’s Hashimoto’s Disease but there are other symptoms unrelated to that.
“I lost the ability to play music. It was rough day to day. If I hadn’t been so proactive, it would’ve been much worse.
I also didn’t realize I had so much trauma. After seven or eight months of that, I graduated to physical training, learning to move again,” he said. “I got through all that stuff and was able to get back on tour in 2022, but there was still anxiety and depression.
My short fuse was still there. Then I had a flare-up of some of the symptoms and pretty much had a breakdown on the road,” he added. “What I learned was that I had no trouble submitting to the physical aspects of my recovery, but with the mental and emotional aspects, I had trouble.
There was therapy, medication, a change of habits. The guys really supported me. Our band was 24 to 25 years in when all this happened.
“One of the first steps to believing I could help myself through this was breathing and meditation. I kept with it, and there’s been a shift in my well-being. I feel like I lost a lot of time.
I began sharing on social media. There was this tremendous outpouring of support and love. So many things changed when I started opening up.
I take pride in reaching people. I feel a deeper connection in all of me.” Gershman also found himself relaxing through his lifelong love of music.
“The music I gravitated toward shifted from upbeat rock to more calming music, including classical. My wife is from Texas and got me into some calming country music. I got into calming jazz, too.
“I processed for a while if should do music. It’s difficult to travel still, but I’m back on tour now. I still have flare-ups that I must manage.
I’m still working on it. It’s like preventative maintenance on a car. That’s my approach to the podcast: ‘Let’s all be more preventative, not reactive.
’” He uses a creative metaphor to describe how he lives now. “It’s like I got used to taking digital pictures and now I have to use film again.” he said.
“I have to be more careful about setting up a shot. There are two mindsets I’ve adopted. One is thanks to the author Ryan Holiday and his book ‘Trust Me, I’m Lying; The Obstacle Is the Way’ which makes you consider the obstacles in your life.
The other is what to do with my energy, being creative again. There’s also this saying I heard from a friend ‘to make the uncomfortable comfortable.’” A Connecticut O.
A.R. show like the upcoming one in Bridgeport is special for Gershman.
“My mom grew up in Waterford,” he said. “We visited there every summer. I still have two uncles in the Waterford area.
I also have family in Hartford. I think of Connecticut as my happy place.” O.
A.R., which was formed by school friends in Maryland in the mid-1990s, has played Connecticut dozens of times, starting with venues like The Webster in Hartford and Toad’s Place in the early 2000s, jumping to theaters like the Oakdale Theatre and UConn’s Jorgensen Center a couple of years ago and in the past decade or so playing a variety of places from College Street Music Hall and the Russian Lady to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.
This will be the band’s third time at Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater. For as long as the band has been around, O.A.
R. — which besides Gershman features vocalist Marc Roberge, lead guitarist Richard On, drummer Chris Culos, saxophonist Jerry DePizzo and touring members keyboardist/percussionist MikelParis and trumpeter Jon Lampley — has been dogged with two perceptions. One is that they’re a “best kept secret” sort of band that never reached their commercial potential, though they sell out venues such as Madison Square Garden and Red Rocks and are headlining this latest arena tour.
The other is that they’re mainly a jam band, a designation that downplays the quality of their songwriting and lyrics. O.A.
R. released its 10th album “The Arcade” in 2022. Gershman noted that the bands’ songs have generally “pointed to positivity and inclusion, so what I’m doing now isn’t that new.
There need to be more positive things in the world.” O.A.
R. is playing with Fitz and the Tantrums and DJ Logic on July 21 at Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater, 500 Broad St., Bridgeport.
Tickets are $34.50-$114.50.
hartfordhealthcareamp.com ..
